Starting Over

~ By Gardnbee ~

Last year we tore down our old deck and re-built a newer and smaller structure but before this was done all the plants and flowering shrubs that were along the west and northwest side had to be dug up and re-planted in whatever spaces were available to save them for future re-location.

Well the "future" has arrived and now all of this vegetation is in need of lifting and re-planting once more. It has been said by more experienced gardeners than me that it is always a wise thing to lift out all perennials from a flower bed and after adding in whatever may be required by way of nutrients, etc. to then re-work the bed before re-planting what needed to be split anyway, about every 3 years depending. I have a tendency to just work each bed, divide each plant as needed, which as it turns out is a good thing this year.

The past few years we have been reducing the number of flower beds within our outdoor living space for the simple reason that they had just become too much work for me. We now have 7 actual beds, one very large, four medium and 2 smaller. All of these beds are planted with various perennials which blossom throughout the planting, growing and harvesting seasons for the most part and all of these beds are in need of re-doing now.

The picture below (though not a very good one) is one of the medium beds that runs along the front of our home next to the front door entrance and it's complete view is somewhat cut off from site.

This bed is approximately 27 and 1/2 ft. long by 4 and 1/2 feet wide to 3 and 1/2 ft wide on either side of the weeping Pea tree pictured. Though difficult to see, all of the plants but the dwarf Iris, dwarf sweet William and my beloved Pasque flower plants have been lifted so far and I hope to have the rest lifted by next week. Then the entire bed will be reworked, removing weeds and adding in any other supplement required before re-planting the Iris, Pasque and sweet William as a base while keeping my weeping Pea as the central point of interest.

This is a bed that receives various points of light throughout the day and therefore needs plants that can grow in the shade as well as filtered to direct sun depending on where they are placed. I have decided to fill up the rest of this bed with annuals like the ones listed below taking color, compatibility, size and manageability into consideration.

~ Begonia (gr. Tuberhybrida) (non hardy bulb cultivated as an annual)

~ Impatiens walleriana (Scarlet)

~ Lobelia erinus 'Blue Fountains' (edge lobelia)

~ Petunia x hybrida (Petunia)

All in all this is what must be done with the remaining 6 beds and will admit for me this is not only a huge project, but one that will in the end bring much comfort and beauty into our surroundings that has been somewhat neglected up to this point in time.

Adding planters to the new deck, our front porch sitting area along with a Humming Bird feeder, a bench under the huge Cherry tree on our front lawn for contemplation and well things like this will also create a gathering place of beauty for friends and family to enjoy when visiting not to mention all the natural visitors who come constantly throughout the seasons :)

         

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